The Tau'va
by Quill-Weaver
Summary: On a mission gone wrong Fayre of the Gue'vesa ponders the very reason for the existence of the empire, the greater good
1. Ambush

At first Fayre didn't had entered her caste quite willingly, expecting to live the tales of heroic battles and great conquests all in the name of the greater good just like the ones her farther always told her, but now she wasn't sure.

Her name was Fayre Allius; she was a Gue'vesa of the fire caste of the tau empire. Gue'vesa was translated as human helper; it literally meant a human servant of the tau empire and their philosophy, the so called greater good. Fayre had been raised her whole life thinking that the greater good was the ultimate way of life, it was the only spark of light in a dying galaxy. She truly had been amazed by the mere splendour of the tau empire and when she was called on to serve the empire as her parents had done, she felt it was the greatest honour she would ever feel. But lately she had begun to feel disturbance of a more _philosophical_ sort.

The tau sometimes referred to their ideology as the great machine, its servants were mere but little parts in the machine of something greater. She gave a small smile as she remembered the lessons the ethereals had taught her as a child, they would all sit in a circle around him and wait to hear him speak.

"_Remember children of the tau'va, we are all but parts in one great machine. And a machine is only as great as the sum of its parts, each one of us must perform our duties to the maximum. This is our duty to the empire, to our brothers and sisters and ourselves, the reason this empire exists is to bring about the future of this galaxy. Your human brethren in the imperium cling to the carcass of their dying empire; they have not been enlightened as you have. For their sakes as well as yours"_

Fayre remembered that time fondly, she had always loved learning the way the empire worked and what made its citizens think. She had always failed to understand why for the greater good she was born into the fire caste, which was the way they did things of the more 'enlightened' human systems. The tau traditionally moved in alongside their new allies and trade flourished between the two peoples. Then much later they traditionally tried to use the caste system to get maximum efficiency out of the population, everyone did roles to which they were suited to so nobody seemed to mind. Since inter-caste breeding was allowed with humans it was made so that a child would adopt the caste of his parent of the same gender, sons followed fathers and daughters followed mothers. Both of her parents had been fire caste, so she always knew she was destined for solider-hood. That was the way her forefathers had done it and it was good enough for her, or so she had been taught.

"Hey Fayre, time to get ready!" shouted her friend Felas.

She gave a nod; she was never really one for social interaction, other than the odd remark. Still she did enjoy the company of her friends; there was Felas of course, a replacement member of her squad after most of hit had been slaughtered. He always did lift the mood with his cheery attitude; he was always a great morale boost. Then there was Vargil, she didn't know his last name, she was what he referred to as a native, meaning he was a native of Sa'cea, apparently there was a tribe of primitive humans who had lived there before the tau occupation Fayre wouldn't know, most of the Gue'vesa were descendants of those who had settled in the empire during the aftermath of the damones gulf crusade, certainly that was as far as she knew of her ancestry. Then there was her last friend Rilou, he was very strange in the fact he had been born an imperial. He told her sometimes that he had been orphaned as a boy and taken in by the tau; her squad had literally come across him after he'd managed to save Felas's life, since then he and Felas had become best friends, he had also left an impression on Fayre herself, she never before knew anyone so quiet and mysterious and this fascinated her. And his kindness and ability to see the good in any situation always was a comfort to her.

"Are ya ready lass? It would seem yer think the imperials were going to kill themselves!" bellowed Vargil.

Fayre gave a scowl, "I'm coming lard-ass! Don't you worry!"

Vargil snorted, he knew Fayre was short tempered, but she also knew he was impatient so it was fair enough.

They had been sent to keep a supply shipment safe; their convoys were increasingly under attack by their imperial rivals. This was unacceptable by high command. They were spread so thinly that the squads had been divided into small groups, Fayre was not unhappy about this since it was just her and her friends. They had rested in a burnt out building last night and now emerged into the unwelcome sunlight.

For every day a new challenge awaited, this was the way of the fire caste, the way of the empire. Fayre growled with excitement as she left her shelter and proceeded to the supply transport. They all hopped upon the sides and made themselves comfortable as possible as it bounded off.

"Says this route's supposed to be deserted! We shouldn't encounter much trouble!"

"How many times have you said that before Vargil!" shouted Felas.

Fayre realised this banter was for morals sake as well as caution; they were literally sitting ducks out there. Fayre always smiled at the banter, she never really had friends growing up, and now she had three who she wouldn't give up for the world.

A large blast shook her of her thoughts, the transport rumbled as if there was an earthquake, Fayre winced as her arm struggled to hold on, and she heard the strangled screams of her teammates as they fell off. Fayre herself landed with a hard thud and raised with tears in her eyes, when reality came back into focus she saw the transport with a smoking hole protruding ugly from its side. Her training made her switch on her sniper and immediately look for the source of the trouble.

As she suspected, imperials coming towards her, these imperials seemed a bit more ragged than normal, Fayre snorted, such expendable troops were usually given the most basic of gear and she wouldn't be surprised if their equipment was generations old. She took aim and sniped at the first one, he fell screaming, by now all the others had gotten out. Vargil sighted a large group of them and blew them apart with his rocket launcher; he gave a bellowing laugh as he did so. Rilou coped Fayre and sighted them with his pulse rifle, he blasted them with far range and the ultimate stopping power of the rifle, she knew he always marvelled at the rifle, in a way so did she, there was rarely an average infantry weapon as far ranged as powerful as the pulse rifle.

Rilou's shots were merely a diversion for Felas; he snuck up on them and levelled a lot of them with his favoured pulse carbine, the quick rate of fire defiantly made up for the short range. It also had a grenade launcher which he made much use of; he fired one of the grenades into the cover which they were sheltering. They scattered out and were easy targets for Felas.

Fayre shook her white hair free of the grime of battle and tried to inspect the damage, the transport was complete wrecked, the driver was dead and they would have to get a new one.

"I thought they said we wouldn't get any trouble from the imperials!" Felas shouted.

"I don't think there imperials, look at their gear that doesn't look like any uniform" said Rilou.

He was right, they certainly weren't common soldiers, they had no uniforms only normal clothing with rough leather vests over them, and their guns were so broken apart there was no way they would have passed even an imperial weapon inspection.

"Mercenaries?" offered Rilou.

"Possibly" said Fayre, it was true that the imperials were losing this fight, they had received no support and so had left this planet for dead, only the imperium would have the numbers so they could give up on a planet, the tau would never abandon a sept of their own.

"Why don't we ask this guy!" shouted Felas, he was dragging a large wounded man towards them. His face was pale from blood loss, Felas shoved him against a rock and Fayre strode up to him, he looked at her with a scowl, Fayre knew what he thought of her so she didn't wait. She slapped him and said

"I've got a deal for you friend, you give me information and I let you keep your life, good deal" she offered

He spat "I'll never tell you anything heretic whore!"

Felas moved to strike but Fayre stopped him "oh I think you will" she said and pointed her gun to his head.


	2. Retaliation

Fayre was always very good at reading people, usually in quiet missions it was her role to check the facts and make sure everything was in order; she usually could tell who was lying about something even before they had spoken a lie. Fayre understood people's minds, but rarely could they understand her. The prisoner was clearly shocked by the fact she pointed her gun at him.

_He's fearful for his life, this is good_ she thought.

"Okay let's start this again, if you tell me information we'll let you live, do we have a deal?" she raised her eyebrow.

The prisoner gave great wheezing breaths giving away his physical health facts.

Rilou was correct, this man was certainly no imperial solider, and judging by his gear he was no sort of experienced mercenary, maybe a novice but the man was clearly middle aged, a bit too old to take up the job. In Fayre's opinion, the man was just a citizen, perhaps turned bounty hunter or mercenary during the war to earn some income. The fool, being a mercenary was not just something one did on a whim. It was a serious job with serious risks, Fayre had once met one as a Gue'vesa'saal (a human military cadet) she had asked him if he was not loyal to the empire why was he here. He replied that he wasn't loyal to the imperium either; he explained the imperium no longer cared about its citizens and it was literally every man for himself. Fayre asked him how the imperium managed to keep a hold of the majority of their species if it was so cruel.

"Religion kid, that's how" he bluntly answered. "You see they have people to make sure every one of 'ems loyal to that emperor of theirs. If there's the slightest chance that they may not be, they'll burn down entire cites to enforce loyalty they will! It's a religion of fear kiddo, they train 'em to obey without question and if they think freely they die"

As she matured Fayre had obviously questioned this argument, but she had seen how the imperium worked now, and she knew he was right.

The prisoner had recovered from his fit, this was good. "Alright" he panted, "I'll tell you what I know"

"Very wise, question one- what are you? You're no imperial solider"

"They could be desperate" Felas joked but was silenced by Fayre's stare.

"I'm nobody special, I'm just a mercenary"

"What was your job?"

"I grew up in this city so I know the area pretty well; we were hired to disrupt any transport to your foul alien masters" he spat.

"If only you knew" she answered, the tau were not their masters but their liberators. Were they free to worship the emperor or any religion they otherwise desired? Absolutely, and certainly they were no pawns of a corrupt tyrant, the reason the Gue'vesa did not rebel is that there was nothing to rebel against; it was difficult to imagine a better existence for her within the empire. Still, this man had been born and raised to the imperial code, had been fanatically loyal to the emperor and as bigoted towards free-thinkers. Could you ever convert people as fanatically devoted as this man? Could you ever reason with a fanatic? Even if you were speaking the truth.

"Enough of this, last question, are there any other mercenary bands around here?"

"Lots, we all knew this route didn't see much action so we all knew that was where you were going to be"

She gave a fierce glance at Vargil, and then moved on. "Okay that's all we need to know, you can leave though you can take care of your own wounds. If we see you again you better make sure you aren't helping imperials, clear?"

"Clear" he muttered, not taking defeat well but grateful for his life. He rose up and slowly shuffled along, after several minutes he was gone from view completely. They all gathered in a circle wondering about the future.

Felas was the first to speak "what are we gonna do now?"

"Maybe one of those mercenary bands has a transport, I say we ambush them and steal it" suggested Rilou

"Agreed"

"Well then, we have nothing to do but sit here on our asses!" boomed Vargil

"Business as usual for you then" sniped Fayre.

"Ha! Truly you should have been an entertainer not a warrior Fayre!" he remarked back. He was about to start a lecture to her but she walked away, not in any mood for it. She rested upon a hill and aimed the sight of her sniper checking her surroundings. She was very proud of her sniper, a specially modified pulse rifle with increased range and shot power but a slow rate of fire. It was a personal gift from her farther and she guarded it with her life.

She stared into the sky dreamily as she remembered her farther. Her mother died when she was simply a child, so her farther had chosen to take time off from his career to take care of her, he would always please her with stories about the exploits of him and his friends. It sadden him to leave his comrades behind, Fayre was glad he could be there for her but she felt a little guilty as well for it was she that kept him there. She remembered the day they received news her father's old squad had been slain to a man. Oh how he had wept for days after that, she had tried to comfort him to no avail. He was depressed for weeks after that, but Fayre had seen a solution though she was not sure that either she or her farther liked it. Soon after the news she had turned eighteen, old enough to enter the military which meant her farther would no longer have to take care of her. She followed her farther as the rules of caste said she must, he had been delighted that he could return to the wars of the empire but he was also sad that his only daughter would be joining them, he had seen her after she'd finished training. He looked upon her with pride in her armour and presented her with her sniper. The weapon was finely made and paid for by him and had given her another gift, her mother's necklace.

"She said it bought her luck, I hope you'll have it too" he said.

She wept as he presented her with it, she embraced him tight.

"Goodbye farther" she cried.

He returned the hug and said "goodbye my cherished child, don't worry, I'm sure we'll see each other again" he comforted. As she walked to her transport to speed her away from her previous life he had waved and said. "Goodbye Fayre! May you always be safe and your aim be true!"

That was the last she'd ever seen of her farther, she had received no news of his fate show she presumed he was still alive. She supposed a reason that she took care of her rifle so closely, it was also her last connection to her farther.

She felt a hand on her shoulder, she turned and Rilou looked down on her.

"Are you okay Fayre?" he asked, "I'm fine Rilou, I'm just reminiscing about things"

"Not a good thing to do during a hostile zone" he chuckled, "honestly Rilou, I thought stupid jokes were Felas's department"

"Just trying to lighten the mood" he smiled back, "seriously though, what's wrong you haven't been yourself lately?"

"It's just- she paused as she heard the grumbling sound of some sort of engine. She snapped to the ground and raised her sniper; years of this had made it instinct for her.

"You were right Rilou" she stated, a combat wagon of sorts was coming towards them. It was a crudely made all-terrain vehicle with a large turret mounted on its rear. "Get the others" she commanded and took aim. She didn't think these people were soldiers, their clothes were filthy and they drove around to wildly to have any experience, soon they would have to make a sharp turn. She waited patiently until the turn had been made to shoot the gunner, his head snapped back and he fell off. The wagon turned so sharply the engines made a revving sound which cut out the falling body of the enemy that was the first lesson her farther had taught her: the first lesson of sniping- make sure you're never heard. She got up and ran towards the wagon where her friends who were in place, the second lesson of sniping- always change positions after you've shot.

The drivers only noticed their gunner had gone when the gue'vesa snuck up on them and attacked, they looked on in dread to see they were defenceless and seconds later were finished off. Felas took the wheel and Vargil mounted the turret.

"Okay part A is done, what next wise leader" mocked Felas

"We must take care of those other mercenaries, move out!" she commanded.

The truck sped off with a roar of its engines kicking up dust as the team headed towards their final destination.


	3. Confession

Hello everyone, I have decided to end my time as Quill-Weaver, I no longer feel as though I can contribute stories to this site do too little time for writing, I have decided to move on to other hobbies.

My stories were not that good anyway.

It would be appreciated if someone could tell me how to end my profile on fan fiction, I keep sending messages to the managers but they never respond.

One final regards

Quill-Weaver.


End file.
